Broker scores at trade shows

by
MBN |
29 Jan 2014

These potential clients may have more pressing things to worry about than mortgages, but one broker is using a unique strategy to get before those consumers as they prepare to make a life-altering change.

“It’s my third year (having booths) at trade shows and I have personally found a lot of success,” Deepak Bansal of Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “I’ve been to the bridal shows, reaching out to first-time buyers; young couples looking to get married, are eventually going to be buying their first home and they need advice.”

In some cases, these bridal shows are flooded by hundreds of thousands of potential first-time buyers and although Bansal knows mortgages aren’t a top priority when they’re snaking through various wedding-themed exhibits, buying a home is often a logical step that soon follows the wedding.

“At these shows we have giveaways; we get people to fill in ballots as a means for lead generation,” Bansal explained. “Once they’re at our booth we talk to them very briefly because we know that mortgage financing is probably the last thing on their mind but we actually take it offline afterwards, we give them a call, thank them for coming to the show and set up an appointment to get them a preapproval.”

His last bridal show was held on January 3-5 and Bansal is already working on his third lead. And it’s a strategy he’s noticing more and more brokers picking up on.

“The first year I didn’t see any brokers, last year I did see two other brokers and this year I noticed two other brokerages there; I feel that more and more brokers are starting to see the benefits,” Bansal said. “There is a large cost involved and I think that’s what makes a lot of brokers shy away from it.”

And he doesn’t stop at bridal shows, either, noting that a very different potential client can be reached at home shows.